In 1957 through the cooperation of Paul Bray, a member of the Explorer committee
in the Chabot district, the Oakland Council was able to secure a gift from Mr. Archie
Loomer for a piece of property located 15 miles north of Placerville. The campsite
is located outside the town of Pollack Pines about 1 mile north of highway 50 on
Blair road and consists of approximately forty-eight acres of timber, grasslands
and some cabins. The property was given to the Council by Mr. Arch Loomer because
he wanted someone to use the property that was conservation-minded and would use
the site for camping activities without making it a commercial enterprise. Mr. Loomer
had a great love of nature and the outdoors and preserved this 48 acre plot as a
summer home for his family.

Because of its natural beauty the Oakland Council agreed both in writing and in the
discussions with Mr. Loomer that they would carry out his idea of preserving the
area in its native state as far as was consistent with the needs of the council in
the development of a camping program.

One of the features of this particular camp site is that it is only about a half
hour by automobile from the major snow fields on highway 50, thus making it a very
natural base camp for winter camping and winter sports.

In the acceptance of this camp site, Mr. Loomer reserved a life interest in the property
and the privilege of using the camp and the two story Loomer cabin as needed by him
and at such times as it be desired by him. Mr. Loomer very graciously allowed the
council to use his cabin as the center of operation when he was not using it. In
addition, there were two other small cabins on the property, one owned by a Mr. Wilson
and the other by a Mr. Kendall. Under the terms of the agreement these two men were
also allowed to use the cabins as long as they wish.

Three areas were designated at Camp Loomer for Troop camping sites however none of
the areas contained any flat terrain. The main building on the property was the
Loomer cabin where the camp director stayed when troops where using the property.
The Loomer cabin had no water heater so water was heated in the fire place. Over
the years some basic camp needs were added to the property such as a troop shower
house in the camping areas. The camp also had a county maintained irrigation canal
that separated the property from other land owners via two wooden bridges.

Paul Bray constructed the Camp Loomer sign that hung over the entrance to the camp
around 1967. Mr. Bray was related to the Loomers of Sacramento and he may have been
instrumental in arranging for the transfer of that property to the council. Mr.
& Mrs. Loomer and the others who held interest in the land, were Sacramento school
teachers.

CAMP LOOMER IS SOLD

With the merging of the two councils in 1964, the San Francisco Bay Area Council
now had six camps to operate and maintain. In 1973 due to very few Scouts using
the camp, the encroachment of new housing around the property and the cost to operate
so many camps, it was decided to close two of the council camps that had the least
amount of use. Although it was a difficult decision by the board, it was decided
that both Camp Loomer and Camp Lilienthal would close and that their properties be
sold.

Ultimately the Camp Loomer property was not used a great deal due to its location
and lack of amenities. The property in 2009 still exhibits the same look as it did
in the 1960’s. However the three Loomer cabins have been removed from the property
and two trailer homes now occupy its former site. The troop camping areas are still
undisturbed and remnants of the shower house can still be found. The wooden bridges
over the irrigation canal have been partially dismantled but are still intact. The
Camp Loomer entrance sign that was built by Paul Bray was moved to Wente Scout Reservation
in 1973 and is currently used as the entry way to the Oak Flats campground (site
11).